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Auto shops call lawsuits a scare tactic
COURTS: Businesses say they’re the victims of “legal shakedowns” but attorneys say they’re pursuing lawbreakers.

By Traci Jai Isaacs
DAILY BREEZE

Automobile repair shops in Los Angeles and Orange counties say they’re the target of an ongoing extortion campaign launched by a Beverly Hills law firm.

In recent weeks, according to court papers, lawyers at Trevor Law Group LLC have filed lawsuits in Los Angeles naming about 1,400 shops for violations ranging from not having valid business licenses to failing to give customers proper paperwork.

Proprietors later receive offers from the firm to agree to fast $500 to $2,000 out-of-court settlements, they said. Hundreds of other repair shops have also been sued in Orange County.

The firm allegedly uses a state-run database that tracks consumer complaints to find shops that have had complaints lodged against them, according to an industry trade group.

Joseph Ngo, who bought Advanced Auto Repair and Smog on South Prairie Avenue in Hawthorne in 1998, was hit a few weeks ago with a roughly 300-page lawsuit, reportedly for operating without a license.

Ngo, 40, said he has a valid license and immediately called the law firm.

“They said if you don’t want any trouble, pay $2,000 and you’re off the hook,” said Ngo, a recent El Camino College graduate now attending UCLA on a scholarship.

He refused to pay.

“We’re licensed, we’re honest and we do legal work,” he said. “These people are saying something that’s groundless. They’re extorting money.”

Other shop owners and industry professionals contend the firm is practicing “legal shakedowns” of small business owners too uninformed or frightened to fight.

“These profiteers are twisting and abusing good consumer protection laws to extort money,” said Marty Keller, director at the Automotive Repair Coalition, a trade group. A California law on the books since the Great Depression — long before the state had well-funded investigator and consumer protection advocates — allows private plaintiffs to sue on behalf of the public.

Trevor Law Group is suing on behalf of a plaintiff company called Consumer Enforcement Watch Corp. Shane Han, an attorney at Trevor, denied the extortion allegations.

“They can feel however they wish,” said Han, who was admitted to the bar just four months ago. “It doesn’t change the fact that they broke the law and are now involved in a lawsuit.”

David Wood, whose 16 Minute Smog shop on Inglewood Avenue in Hawthorne is among several stores he owns, was named in the lawsuit for having an expired business license at a West Los Angeles shop sold more than a year and a half ago.

Wood, a Redondo Beach resident, thought the lawsuit was a mix-up until he called Han.

“He said if I paid now it’d be in the low thousands but if I rode this out and fought he’d win and get legal fees and it would be more,” he said.

Companies team up

Wood and 20 other companies banded together, hired an attorney and are fighting the suits.

The consumer complaints reportedly used by the firm are listed on the Web site at the Bureau of Automotive Repair, part of the state Department of Consumer Affairs. The bureau registers and regulates approximately 34,000 California automotive repair facilities, and licenses smog check, lamp and brake inspection stations.

The database exists so customers can make informed decisions, not as a tool for lawyers looking to sue, say industry professionals. They have complained to the Bureau of Automotive Repair, the state Bar Association and the Attorney General’s Office, where, a few months ago, they had a face-to-face meeting with Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

Trade professionals have no idea whether Lockyer or anyone else will intervene. And neither do state officials.

“We’ll take appropriate action if we get letters,” said Holly Jordan, a spokesman with the state’s top law enforcement office. “We’re monitoring these cases,” said Glenn Mason, a spokesman with the state Office of Consumer Affairs. “This is now a consumer case between the automobile repair shops and the attorneys.”

Han said the automotive repair industry has only itself to blame because of its tolerance for bad business practices.

“The auto repair industry has significant instances of fraud, misrepresentation, customers being ripped off and feeling unsatisfied,” he said. “This happens so often it’s common conversation among people.”

Share of settlements

Han said the firm intends to give former repair shop customers a share of the settlements.

But that might prove difficult since the complaints listed on the state’s Web site are anonymous.

“They couldn’t know who (the consumers) are unless there was action that ended up in court,” said Keller of the Automotive Repair Coalition.

So far, an estimated 20 companies have settled their cases and signed a contract promising they’d remain violation-free for at least four years, said Will Woods of the Automotive Trade Organization, a trade group for gasoline retailers and automotive repair shop owners.

In Orange County, a shop owner fighting the lawsuit is also monitoring other cases. She said some are heartbreaking. The woman, who didn’t want her name used, said one man is in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease and didn’t want to die and leave his minister wife embroiled in a lawsuit. Another man is a cash-strapped widower raising a 12-year-old daughter alone, and a third person has an adult daughter struggling with leukemia, she said.

Woods fears those settlements might do more harm than good. Consumer complaints are largely out of a business owners’ control, and should someone file one, anyone who has settled could be sued again by the firm, he said.

Furthermore, Woods said he’s offended by the firm’s stereotypical comments about his industry.

“They keep saying all repair shop owners are criminals, so I guess we can make the same assumption about lawyers.”

Here is where this country might go. If our government does not remove Middle Easterners who have no business in this nation, there may be vigilante justice. If our government does not stop the scumbag attorneys from sucking the lifeblood from business, there may be vigilante justice.

Don't vote for lawyers.

The first President who launches a credible attack on lawyers as economic and family busting terrorists will be on Mount Rushmore.

Ahhhhhh, registrations and regulations. A piranha's paradise!

ON THE LOCAL ABC WEBSITE:

Auto Lawsuits
ARCADIA — Thousands of auto repair shops in the Southland are being sued. The businesses say they are targets of an extortion campaign by a Beverly Hills law firm. But, the lawyers say they are doing nothing wrong.

Imagine being sued because you failed to sign a piece of paper. Mechanics in Orange and Los Angeles Counties say that's exactly what's happening to them. A state law, that's been on the books since the depression, is allowing anyone to sue on behalf of the public. But, the auto repair shops say it's gone too far.

A busy street in Arcadia is lined with small auto repair shops and recently, many of these businesses were sued not by a disgruntled customer or a government agency, but by three Beverly Hills attorneys who claim to represent a consumer group. They're named in a massive suit that involves more than two thousand car repair shops across L.A. and Orange Counties.

The reasons: They've appeared on the state's "Bureau of Automotive Repair" website or if they've had any type of complaint lodged against them, even for a minor infraction like failing to have a repair estimate signed, they made the hit list.

Attorney Damian Trevor says, "It is pretty evident that the industry itself is running rampant with incorrect estimates failing to estimate their parts and labor on their invoices and generally conducting themselves in the manner the public deserves."

The three Beverly Hills lawyers with the Trevor Law Group dismiss accusations they're filing frivolous lawsuits. In fact, they say the Orange County District Attorney supports their work.

"Not only did I go to law school for this, but I received -- just on Thursday -- a call from the Orange County District Attorney complimenting our lawsuit and asking if we need any support whatsoever be happy to help us," said Trevor.

But we called the OC District Attorney's office and checked. They faxed over a letter to us and to the Trevor Law Group that says:

It has come to our attention that your firm is using our office's name to show support for your lawsuit. Please understand that the Orange County District Attorney's office does not approve of this. Please accept this letter as a warning to stop using this office's name to further your lawsuit in any way.

Another problem shop owners have with the lawsuit is that they've been offered a chance to settle for thousands of dollars instead of going to court in a legal battle. The shop owners call it a legal shakedown.

Donald Johnson of Johnson Machine Service says, "They called down there and said if you send us $2500 we'll drop the suit." When asked what do you think of that? Johnson responded, "I think that's ridiculous."

The attorney for the auto repair shops Katie Jacobs says, "They are using it, which is a good law, but they're really pushing it and saying you can't afford to fight us so pay us and go away."

Some of the individuals interview for this story thought that this was legalized extortion.

"In terms of legal extortion, I think anybody would be really upset and defensive and definitely start hurling remarks that are negative to other people that are starting to investigate and really expose this industry for what it is," says Trevor.

And even if the owner of a shop has just one complaint filed against them the Trevor Law Group says they're justified in filing a lawsuit.

Just before this story aired, Attorney Damian Trevor asked us not to report on the comments he made to us about the Orange County District Attorney.

Meantime, an investigator for the State Bar Association contacted Eyewitness News about Damian Trevor's comments and the Orange County District Attorney, and she asked us several questions about the matter.

Last Updated: Dec 3, 2002

More power to those companies who are standing up against this extortion by Trevor Law Group.

I hope and pray they WIN!!

Hmmmm I wonder if Trevor Law is a big contributer to Greyout Davis.

Automobile repair shops in Los Angeles and Orange counties say they’re the target of an ongoing extortion campaign launched by a Beverly Hills law firm.

They're learning from Jessie. Must be the DNC is demanding more cash.

SAVALOO!!!!! Save America Vote A Lawyer Out Of Office

>>>“They keep saying all repair shop owners are criminals..."<<<

Maybe not ALL of them, but...